In an exclusive, The Beat reports that writer Cullen Bunn (“The Sixth Gun,” “Harrow County”) and artist Cat Farris (“My Boyfriend is a Bear”) are teaming with HarperCollins Children’s Books to release “The Ghoul Next Door,” a graphic novel about the unusual friendship between 11-year-old Grey Brighton and a ghoul named Lavinia.
Literary agent Charlie Olsen of InkWell Management, who paired Bunn and Farris together, said “Cullen has a knack for writing books that I need to read with all the lights on, and after seeing some of Cat’s watercolors and her work on ‘My Boyfriend is a Bear’ with Pamela Ribon, I had a feeling they’d be a good match.”
Farris admitted that “working on a horror-type book is something I’ve been wanting for a while. I’ve always been a fan of creepy stuff!” Bunn, who has a penchant for horror stories, said he has “always loved horror stories aimed at younger readers.” Of the story, Bunn says, “Grey and Lavinia constantly find themselves surrounded by death and they rely on each other to get through their harrowing encounters. I hope there’s a message there about how their friendship helps them face these moments of darkness and fear and even death.”
“The Ghoul Next Door” will be published in Summer 2021, with an untitled sequel slated for Summer 2022. Below are the book’s summary and some preview pages for your viewing pleasure.
“The Ghoul Next Door” is about an 11-year-old boy named Grey Brighton who befriends a ghoul named Lavinia after she helps him with his history project: a map of the cemetery. Lavinia brings him presents that are considerate by ghoul standards (and gruesome by human standards) but when she brings him home to meet the family, Grey is given a choice: become a ghoul himself by eating the dead, or death. Lavinia helps her friend escape only to put them on a collision course with the spirit of a vengeful witch, who holds Lavinia captive unless Grey helps Lavinia still the witch’s mortal remains (which the ghouls have been unwittingly snacking on). Can Grey find the courage to face death in the land of the ghouls to save his friend’s life?
